The Royals Were 10-8 Against Them

The National League should be removed from the Major League baseball playoffs this year. The powers that be should just let the top eight American League teams battle for the World Series. That’s where the real battle is anyway. Does anybody really think that the NL is going to win the World Series? I sure don’t. The last two trips, they are 0-8. Smoked.

All right, maybe I’m being too harsh. One team can join the AL playoffs, seven AL teams and one NL team. I used to think that the Mets should get an automatic pass for this spot, but they have struggled some recently, and their pitching staff seems to be losing a player a day on average. If Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine aren’t one hundred percent come playoff time, the NL is a crapshoot. So I say we give the AL teams two weeks off and let the four best NL teams play best-of-three series to determine their representative. That team gets the eighth slot in the playoffs, and we have some fun from there.

The NL is just a joke this year. They have nine teams within 6.5 games of the Wild Card leading Reds. That 6.5 game difference is the same difference the 73-51 Chicago White Sox trail the AL Central leading Tigers by. How can a team (the Florida Marlins) be 58-66 on August 22 and still have a shot at a playoff spot?

The reason behind my thinking is this. The Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins are arguably three of the top five teams in baseball this year. And one of them will be watching the playoffs from their couch. That is ludicrous. There is going to be a team in the NL that is right around or at .500, if not two teams, if not three teams. One of those AL Central teams is going to have 93-plus wins and be going home.

Here is what this format would look like (records and seeding as of games completed before August 22)

1) Detroit Tigers (80-45)
2) New York Yankees (75-48)
3) Chicago White Sox (73-51)
4) Minnesota Twins (72-51)
5) Oakland A’s (71-54)
6) Boston Red Sox (69-55)
7) Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (66-59)
8) NL Representative (most likely the Mets or Cardinals)

Wouldn’t that be fun? Mets/Cardinals at Tigers, Blue Jays/Angels at Yankees, Red Sox at White Sox, A’s at Twins. Much more interesting, and the tougher AL gets rewarded for having to deal with the brutal schedule they face day-in and day-out.

If you still don't believe the NL is terrible, just go back and read the title.